In a landmark decision towards the welfare of government employees, the UT of J&K administration will no longer make any fresh appointments under Statutory Rules and Order (SRO)-202, which was introduced by PDP-BJP government in 2015. J&K Administrative Council met under the chairmanship of Lt Governor Girish Chander Murmu at Raj Bhavan to withdraw the controversial provision in an attempt to bring huge relief to the youth.
What is SRO 202?
SRO 202 was introduced with the pretext of providing jobs to the unemployed youth, but it sparked protests and outrage right from the start. The UT government made around 13,000 appointments under SRO 202 since its inception, with almost no recruitments in the past two years.
As per SRO 202 norms, all newly appointed employees must undergo a probation period of five years. During this period, the appointee would only be entitled to basic pay. Regularisation would be after the appointee qualifies certain ability tests and training.
What does scraping of SRO 202 mean?
This is a huge win for the youth as J&K administration's decision not only reduces the probation period from five to standard two years for existing appointees, no new fresh appointments would be made under the controversial job policy, which was termed "anti-youth" and "discriminatory."
Speaking at a press conference, the Principal Secretary PDD & Information, Rohit Kansal, who is also the Government spokesperson, said the decision will benefit both existing employees and potential recruits as all future appointments including those in the pipeline, which wouldn't be under SRO 202.
Kansal further added that all SRO 202 appointees will be eligible to all benefits in fixation of pay, increments and allowances effective July 1, 2020.
"LG Jammu and Kashmir Murmu just now called up to convey that as suggested to him, SRO-202 will not be indicated in new recruitment rules and for the existing appointees under SRO-202, the probation period has been reduced to two years. Must compliment him for prompt response," Dr Jatinder Singh, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office, tweeted in response.
The UT administration also called the move "historic" and a "massive step toward employee welfare."
